Kennedy’s autism study an invasion of privacy
To the editor:
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is amassing private records of Americans with autism for a new autism study and a national autism registry is in the planning stages,
On April 21, Dr Bhattacharya the director of National Institute of Health announced the NIH will provide Kennedy with data pulled from federal and commercial databases.
As a healthcare professional I was extremely rigid with HIPAA Regulations.
HIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act allows the use and disclosure of Protected Health Information (PHI) under specific circumstances while also protecting individual medical records and other identifiable health information.
Privacy rule: The HIPAA Privacy rule protects health information, held or transmitted by covered entities and their business associates. Disclosures such as treatment, payment and healthcare operations are permitted.
Individual rights: Individuals have the right to correct their medical records, to see and obtain their medical records and get a copy of their records, and control who can access the PHI.
Information with other health care providers for treatment purposes is permitted, and disclosing information to health plans is permitted for payment authorization. Family members or friends can receive information with an individual’s permission. (If a person is incapacitated a disclosure is deemed in their best interest)
Marketing and research purposes, when certain conditions are met.
I disagree with this program. What are the program intentions for use????
Kathleen Callard RNBS
North Fort Myers